


The Corpse Song

by Jaakkola



Series: Two Men In a Life or Death Situation In a Cabin In Drustvar [2]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Curses, Injury, Light Angst, M/M, Singing, Unresolved, Witch Curses, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21767188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaakkola/pseuds/Jaakkola
Summary: "You were singing," Shaw started.Fairwind hesitated for a moment. "Yes, sailors tend to sing sometimes."
Relationships: Flynn Fairwind/Mathias Shaw
Series: Two Men In a Life or Death Situation In a Cabin In Drustvar [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1957867
Comments: 4
Kudos: 65





	The Corpse Song

_...They wrap you up in bloody sheets and drop you six feet underneath._

Shaw wasn't entirely sure if he was dreaming or not.

_They put you in a fancy box, and cover you up with dirt and rocks,_

He certainly didn't feel entirely awake. The left side of his body was thoroughly numb. It reminded him of the times the engineers' inventions would malfunction and electrocute you, pain shooting up your arm as all your nerves misfired.

_It all goes well, for just one week, and then your coffin springs a leak._

He didn't even feel like he was actually in his body. Everything felt far too distant and unreal.

_Then the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochle on your snout,_

Shaw managed to open his eyes, finding himself staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. His body was unresponsive to any mental cues to move. It set a wave of panic through Shaw as he tried to get his bearings.

_They eat your eyes, they eat your nose, and so it goes, you decompose._

He was on his back, lying on a bed. There's the sound of someone singing, accompanied by the sound of fire crackling. There was a hearth somewhere nearby, judging from the way the shadows and light flickered out across the ceiling.

_A swarm of ants with an appetite chew through your scalp and feast on your spine,_

Shaw screwed his eyes shut as he tried to remember what last happened, blocking out the singing momentarily to think. His agents kept disappearing from Drustvar, to the point were many operatives were downright refusing to step foot in that part of Kul Tiras. Could have been the Horde, could have been a threat more... regional, so Shaw set out with a local to get to the bottom of it.

Fairwind.

Shaw opened his eyes and made a heroic effort in turning his head to the side. Across the room, Fairwind was sat in an old chair, fiddling with his pistol with a look of immense worry painted across his face. _"...you spread it on a slice of bread, and that's what you'll eat when you're dead."_

That explained the singing, at least.

_"And the worms crawl out, the worms crawl in—"_

"Captain," Shaw rasped.

Shaw watched as Fairwind quite literally jumped in his seat, clutching his pistol close as he cursed not-so-under his breath. "By the _Tides,_ Shaw, give a man some warning next time!" He exclaimed, breathing quick with startled fear.

"...hence why I said 'Captain.' "

Fairwind took a moment to steady his breathing before speaking. "Fair enough, I suppose," he said, breathing deep one final time and releasing a decidedly anxious exhale. "How are you holding up?"

Terrible, as it were. He couldn't convince his body to move in any capacity that wasn't turning his head, and that was making Shaw's fight or flight try and kick in, which, when he couldn't do either, just increased his heartbeat into a panicked rate. He was a prisoner in his own body. It didn't help that Fairwind was looking at him like the man expected Shaw to keel over at any moment. "I've been worse," he said, hoping that it would ease the man's worries.

It did not. "I'd hate to know what you consider worse, because that curse has you looking like you were just dragged out of the ocean with the catch of the day."

Shaw took in a deep breath, surprised to find it a rather laborious effort. It felt as if there was a pressure on Shaw's chest, compressing his lungs. The last thing Shaw clearly remembered was that a witch had caught the two by surprise, and before they could dispatch it properly, Shaw was hit in the arm by something particularly nasty. Details were increasingly hazy past that point.

"I sent word for help," Fairwind said as Shaw struggled to turn his head back to get a look at his left arm. He grimaced at the sight of unnaturally darkened skin, accompanied by a ghastly blueish hue. "Hopefully a thornspeaker can get down here before that gets much worse."

Shaw closed his eyes, trying to remember more. He remembered crumpling to the ground like he had the wind knocked out of him. He remembered Fairwind's hands on him as he tried to get Shaw's attention, saying something that Shaw never properly processed. Everything else was far too distant. He definitely didn't remember being pulled into an abandoned home and being laid on the bed.

It didn't help that his attention kept being pulled elsewhere. "You were singing," Shaw started, in an attempt to mentally move past that.

Fairwind hesitated for a moment. "Yes, sailors tend to sing sometimes."

Shaw was well aware of that. It was just that morning when Fairwind's sloop came back to port from an overnight expedition, the entire crew announcing their arrival via sea shanty. _Stand by to board and then our hoard will only grow and grow! Slay 'em all for the haul or your final hurrah 'll be to hang your neck in noose like a pompous bourgeois!_ It certainly imparted a different tone than an Alliance war ship did. "What were you singing?"

"Oh, just a song I learned as a kid. Drustvar's creepy. It has creepy songs about it. Seemed fitting. I don't know."

Shaw opened his eyes and looked over to Fairwind. He fiddled with his pistol in an attempt to release all the nervous energy he seemed to have bottled up. He seemed genuinely worried about if Shaw would be okay, and he didn't know how to address that with either Fairwind or himself.

Shaw regarded Fairwind for a while, letting the sounds of the fire crackling away in the hearth and Fariwind's anxious fidgeting be the only sounds filling the small cabin. "You're not a bad singer," Shaw offered after a while.

Fairwind seemed surprised by that, looking up at Shaw before turning his head away. "I think this curse thing is messing with your head," he mumbled, pulling up his coat collar in an obvious attempt to hide the rapid coloring of his face and neck. Was he embarrassed, or was it something else? Shaw was not in much of a state to analyze Fairwind's actions properly. "You should rest, try to save your energy for fending off the curse until a thornspeaker can get here."

"Like I said, Captain, I've been through worse," Shaw said, though as time went on, he was beginning to question if the constricted and trapped feeling he was experiencing was truly better than the worst of what he fared. It certainly was up there, that was for sure. "You don't need to worry so much."

"Me? I'm not worried," Fairwind said, and it was such a flagrant lie that Shaw wondered if it was supposed to come off as a joke, but he didn't actually apply the correct tone. "Not much of a worrier at all, more of Taelia's thing if I'm being honest."

Breathing was beginning to hurt, and speaking filled his chest with painful aches that sparked across his upper body. If this curse was a petrifying one, this may go bad very quickly. Regardless, Shaw still found the strength in him to match Fairwind's banter. "I've met orphans that were better liars," he said, doing his best not to wince from the pain.

Fairwind looked back over to Shaw with a far too pitying look for Shaw's liking. "Don't die on me, please," Fairwind quietly remarked, before adding the afterthought, "I will be in a lot of trouble with the Alliance if you do."

Something told Shaw that the retribution of the Alliance wasn't the biggest concern on Fairwind's mind, but with the electrocuted feeling slowly making it's way across Shaw and his current struggle with breathing, there wasn't much he could do or say that was both honest and would ease Fairwind's worries. Shaw wondered briefly why he was so concerned with easing Fairwind's worries to begin with, but his thoughts were brought back to the ever increasing pain in his body.

"Keep singing."

"Pardon?" Fairwind asked.

Shaw just held Fairwind's gaze as a response, not having enough strength or patience to repeat himself. There's confusion written across his face, and he looked surprisingly bashful for someone as cocky and self-assured as him.

A nervous, awkward laugh escaped Fairwind, "I think this curse really may be messing with your head."

"Perhaps," Shaw said, closing his eyes.

Silence filled the space between the two. Shaw focused on breathing as he lost feeling in both legs.

 _"I was born tenth of ten in a town by the sea,"_ Fairwind hummed, giving Shaw a slight surprise. _"And my father's heart died when my mother bearing me. Dragged up in sorrow and always alone, still my heart did beat and my limbs did grow, yo ho."_ A beat, _"yo ho."_

"Like I said," Shaw struggled through the pain, "not bad."

Fairwind only responded with the next verse, and the small, abandoned cabin was filled with the sounds of the fire in the hearth, Fairwind's soft singing, and Shaw's labored breathing.

**Author's Note:**

> How much do I gotta pay Blizz to get Flynn's VA singing an entire sea shanty?
> 
> Anyway, here's the only sound file of [Flynn singing](https://fairshaw.tumblr.com/post/189568767323/flynn-has-366-sound-files-and-i-listened-to-all-of) that you only have a slim chance of hearing, which I thought you might enjoy if you haven't heard it already.


End file.
